Kalanchoe brachyloba
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Habit (Leaves)
13 Dec 2008
Image 2
Habit
19 Mar 2007
Image 3
Habit (note flowers)
04 Apr 2009
Image 4
Flowers
04 Apr 2009
Image 5
Dried flowers
16 Dec 2007
Image 6
Dried flowers
05 Jul 2011
| Family: | Crassulaceae |
| Full name: | Kalanchoe brachyloba Welw. ex Britten |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Gelobde plakkie, Krimpsiektebos, Plakkiesblom, Plakkie |
| English common name(s): | Short-lobed kalanchoe, Velvet kalanchoe |
| Synonym(s): | Kalanchoe baumii Engl. & Gilg fide Fl. Zambes. Kalanchoe multiflora Schinz Kalanchoe paniculata auct. - Gossw. & Mendonça, Raym.-Hamet, non Harv. (1862)-- misapplied name Kalanchoe pruinosa Dinter Kalanchoe pyramidalis Schönland |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Rosettes usually developing only one erect terete stem up to 2 m high; rootstock swollen. Leaves sessile, oblong-lanceolate, 100-180(-280) x 40-80 mm, cuneate but with distinctly clasping base, with blunt teeth and/or lobes, rarely almost smooth folded lengthwise, grey-green, more or less tinged red along margin. Inflorescence a flat-topped thyrse with many loose dichasia ending in monochasia. Calyx with lobes broadly triangular, 1.5-3(-4) mm long. Corolla: tube quadrangular-cylindrical to almost pyramidal, 10.5-13 mm long, yellowish green; lobes usually ovate, 2.5-4 x 2-3 mm, yellow. Anthers c. 1 mm long. Squamae oblong, 2.5-3.5 (-4) mm long, rounded, truncate or emarginate. Seeds 1.6-2 mm long. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa) A completely glabrous, 0.60-2 m tall perennial (or also biennial) succulent. Stern from a subspherical or napiform tuber or woody rootstock, stout, terete up to 2.5 cm in diameter at the base, erect, simple or sometimes forked, green, leafless at flowering time (at least below); lowermost internodes short (only up to 2 cm long), the following increasing successively up to 16 cm; nodes somewhat thickened. Leaves decussate, the lower the largest, (5.5)12-26(28) x (2.5)3-7(8) cm, subrosulate, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic to oblong, spathulate or sometimes ovate, obtuse or rounded at the apex, usually serrate-lobed or crenate or entire and undulate at the margin, contracted or attenuate below into a subpetiolar base up to 12 mm broad and shortly sheathing, the median ones relatively narrower, lanceolate to oblong or linear, also crenate or remotely dentate or entire, sessile, not connate, amplexicaul or not, each decurrent in 2 raised lines, the upper shortening successively to the uppermost bract-like ones, all fleshy and very succulent, glaucous or glaucous-green when young and fresh, rigid or sometimes chartaceous on drying, caducous. Flowers erect in dense cymes forming partial flattish corymbs, disposed in a repeatedly dichotomous terminal flat-topped corymb-like inflorescence (5)13-35(45) x (5)13-25 cm; main branches of inflorescences in up to 8 pairs, the lowermost up to 35 cm long, straight, at ±45 deg. angles with the axis; pedicels of dichotomies 6-11(15) mm long. Calyx 1.5-4(5) mm long, pale green; tube 0.75-1.5 mm long; sepals 0.75-2.5(3.5) x 1.5-2.25 mm, lanceolate to shortly triangular, subacute to obtuse, fleshy, rigid when dry. Corolla 13.5-16(17) mm long, subconical after anthesis, narrowing gradually from the roundish base to the apex of the approximate lobes; corolla-tube (10)11-13.5(15) mm long, and ±4 mm in diameter near the base, obtusely 4-angled below, distinctly so above, not contracted below the lobes after anthesis, yellow-green, turning reddish-brown scarious when dry; corolla-lobes 2-5.25 x 2-4.25 mm, ovate or deltate-semiorbicular, acute, slightly apiculate, lemon-yellow to orange-yellow, sometimes whitish- or red-edged, erect and usually connivent, flat or twisted (together with the uppermost part of tube) even after anthesis, only spreading in the afternoon. Filaments 0.5 or 1.5 mm long; anthers 0.5 or 0.75 mm, those of the lower stamens below or attaining the sinuses between the corolla-lobes, those of the upper ones slightly above the base of corolla-lobes. Follicles 8.5-12 mm long; styles 0.5-1.5 mm long. Scales 1.5-3.25 x 0.5 mm, linear-lanceolate, emarginate, hyaline or brownish-scarious. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Zambesiaca) Perennial or biennial, few-leaved, solitary or, rarely, sparsely branched, glabrous but velvety, robust, subrosulate, succulent, 0.6–2.0m tall. Stems light bluish-green, usually one arising from a rosette, unbranched or rarely oncebranched, erect to slightly leaning, terete, not angled. Leaves opposite-decussate, subrosulate, sessile, the lowest the largest, the uppermost becoming smaller and bract-like, mostly uniformly greyish-green to dull light green, rarely midgreen, succulent throughout, straight when young, becoming gracefully arched to recurved, lower, oldest ones becoming variously floppy, velvety-smooth, drying papery chartaceous, sometimes caducous; petiole absent; blade 10–20 × 4–7 cm, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, usually distinctly folded lengthwise along the midrib, cuneate; apex rounded-obtuse, often curved downwards; base subpetiolar, tapering towards mid-blade; mostly clasping the stem, sometimes slightly auriculate basally; margins light greenish-white, coarsely and irregularly serrate-lobed to crenate or undulate-crenate into irregular, rounded, harmless crenations, rarely almost smooth, sometimes lightly reddish-tinted. Inflorescence 30–150cm tall, erect to slightly leaning, apically subdense, few- to many-flowered, flat-topped thyrse with several subdense dichasia, round to ellipsoid in outline when viewed from above, branches opposite, projecting erectly away from main axis at 45°, subtended by small leaf-like bracts, leafy branchlets in axils mostly lacking, axis light green or covered in a dense, white, waxy substance that obscures the colour; pedicels slender, 5–15mm long. Flowers erect, greenish yellow (tube) and light yellow (lobes); calyx succulent, light bluish-green; sepals 4, basally fused, 2–5 × 1.5–3.0mm, lanceolate to triangular-lanceolate, acute-tipped, distinctly contrasting against corolla tube; corolla 13–17 mm long, somewhat enlarged lower down, often twisted apically at and after anthesis, yellowishgreen (tube) and light yellow (lobes); corolla tube 10–15 mm long, quadrangular-cylindrical, distinctly 4-angled, obtusely rounded at bottom, boxshaped-square when viewed from below, longitudinally fluted above, yellowish-green, becoming creamy-white to reddish-brown and scarious when dry; lobes 2–5 × 2–4mm, ovate to subcircular, acute, apiculate, light yellow, faintly white-margined, usually connivent, slightly twisted with upper part of tube, becoming slightly spreading depending on time of day. Stamens appearing almost sessile, inserted in 2 obscure ranks ± above middle of corolla tube, often included because of lobe connivence; filaments short, 1.0–1.5mm long; anthers 0.5–1.0mm long. Pistil consisting of 4 carpels; carpels 8–12mm long; styles 0.5–1.5mm long; scales up to 4mm long, linear-lanceolate. Follicles brittle, grass spike-like, enveloped in dry, creamy-white remains of corolla, brown, 8–12mm long. Seeds not seen. (from The taxonomy of Kalanchoe brachyloba Welw. ex Britten (Crassulaceae), Gideon F. Smith & Estrela Figueiredo, Bradleya 35/2017) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
